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Eulier Gonzalez
Eulier Gonzalez

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Recursion, why is helpful but not in JS, ;(

Recursion according to DSA Course from Zero To Mastery is an algorithmn, that allows to define something in terms of itself or a function that call itself.

For example

let multiplyBy5 = (num) => {
  if(num === 1) return 5
  return multiplyBy5(num - 1) + 5
}
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As you can see recursion, is useful for repetitive task.
Of courser iterative solutions are way more better for this small problems.
But when you need to traverse a tree or a graph ( something that is wildly uncommon for Js developer )

Or validate a Binary Search Tree.

const isValidBST = function(root, min, max) {
    if(!root) return true

    if( (min && root.val <= min.val) || (max && root.val >= max.val) ) 
        return false

    return isValidBST(root.left, min, root) && isValidBST(root.right, root, max)
};

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Recursion offers :

  • DRY Code (Don't repeate yourself)
  • Readability
  • Useful when you don't know how deep a data structure is
  • Solve problems using a divide and conquer approach

Tradeofs:

  • Iterative solution are more efficient, since they don't have additional function call (they don't use the call stack)
  • Space complexity and Recursion are not friends
  • For new developers it's hard to wrap around their minds

To solve the space complexity issue, there is something call:

  • Tail Call Optimization It allows recursion without increasing the call stack

However, and the reason you're here.

Supringsingly, only [Apple Products*](https://kangax.github.io/compat-table/es6/#test-proper_tail_calls_(tail_call_optimisation), support this feature.

The others major js enviroment like, Chrome, Firefox, Edge (client side) and node.js (server side) doesn't support and that might never changes.

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